Page:On to Pekin.djvu/239

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CHARGING UPON THE NATIVE QUARTER
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encouraging his men. "We must win out," he is reported to have said. "They cannot stand up against us much longer."

The ground was very uncertain, and the whistling of the bullets incessant. The Americans were still in full view of the enemy, and men were dropping on every side. Some distance from the mud wall were a number of native houses; and from these came a galling cross-fire, which presently laid the color-bearer low.

"The flag is down!" was the cry from several throats; but, in a moment. Colonel Liscum ran forward and picked it up. Flag in hand, he started to look for a suitable ford over the canal which ran through the marshland.

"Better get down, or they'll hit you!" shouted one of the under ofiicers.

"I guess not," was the brave colonel's answer; and at that instant a Chinese bullet struck him in the abdomen.

"Are you hit?" asked an officer, who saw him stagger back.

"I've got it," was the feeble reply; and then Colonel Liscum fell, to rise no more. A score of